


The Dynamics of Power

by snarkyscorp



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Power Play, informal D/s
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-13
Updated: 2009-12-13
Packaged: 2017-11-05 22:06:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/411499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarkyscorp/pseuds/snarkyscorp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is Christmas Eve, 2024, when Teddy knows this cannot go on. Scorpius is wearing a heavy, gray-wool scarf and his pale-cream traveling cloak. He sweeps into the office like a storm, upturning papers with the winds of his chaos and tearing past his desk with the sea growling at his back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dynamics of Power

Scorpius walks into Teddy's life on October 2, 2023. It is a cold autumn day, and Scorpius is wrapped in a gentle blue scarf and white frock coat. His pale skin is flushed at his cheeks, a bit blotchy from the winds that whipped in late the previous evening. Teddy can't help but notice the shine of Scorpius' shoes and the severe knot of his tie.

"You must be Malfoy," Teddy says, as if there is any other option.

"And you must be Mr. Lupin."

Scorpius extends a bone-thin hand; his fingers, like spindly legs of a spider wrap around Teddy's with a surprisingly strong grip. When Scorpius pulls his hand away, he wipes it on a cloth that he pulls from his vest's breast pocket. Teddy can smell the antibacterial potion on it.

"Is this my desk?" Scorpius asks, blinking dully and patiently. With a tip of his head and a grin at his lips, Scorpius gestures. "It's quite small, but then I suppose I am just a secretary after all."

They spend the rest of the day getting to know one another in a very businesslike way. Teddy explains how the office works, what is expected of Scorpius, how much he is to be paid, and the rules of working under Teddy. Scorpius listens attentively, asks all the right questions, and does everything with pitch-perfect precision. When the day is over, Scorpius bids him goodnight, and they go their separate ways.

Teddy thinks, after this first day with Scorpius Malfoy, that he has found the perfect assistant.

********

Scorpius tests Teddy's patience for the first time on May 6, 2024. It is a warm spring morning when Scorpius enters the office. Scorpius has his shirt-sleeves rolled up like everyone else, but Teddy notices that each roll is precisely turned and tucked. There are no wrinkles or creases in the white-pressed button-up, and each side is rolled to precision to match the other. The turn of the sleeves are so tight that they almost appear pressed.

"Good morning, Malfoy," Teddy says, standing to his feet as if a lady has just entered the room.

"Good morning, Mr. Lupin," Scorpius says. There is a lazy drawl about his voice that Teddy loves for reasons beyond him, but this morning it seems vacant and almost disinterested. "Shall I fetch your dragon pearl tea?"

"One sugar, a dash of cream—"

"And two turns clockwise," Scorpius finishes, settling his satchel on the back of his hair so that the strap is pulled taut and the bag hovers just cenimetres from the floor. "I know, sir."

It is the same routine every morning, but Scorpius has never interrupted him before. It is almost jarring, to be pulled from the routine. The routine is what makes the office work so well; to disrupt it is to enter into dangerous territory. Teddy has never been a stickler for the rules except at work, where it counts. But he ignores his nerves; after all, it is just tea.

Scorpius returns with the tea promptly as ever and sets it in front of Teddy. But instead of retrieving the five rolls of parchment waiting for him at his desk, Scorpius hesitates behind him.

"May I ask you a personal question, Mr. Lupin?"

Teddy twists in his chair. Scorpius hesitated for just the right amount of time, because now the two girls who were passing through with important files have gone. Teddy and Scorpius are alone when Scorpius grips Teddy's shoulders with his claw-thin fingers. Teddy cannot move under them, let alone crane his head the distance he needs to see Scorpius properly. It is unnerving, to be held under such cold, bony fingers, to be stilled by a boy half his age and out of the blue and only when they are only.

"I suppose you can, Malfoy," Teddy says. He is stiff, his spine like a rod piercing his body straight into the chair. "And I suppose you will, now that I cannot move to protest."

Scorpius laughs. It is the strangest noise Teddy has ever heard, because up until now he has never heard it before. Until now, Teddy imagined that Scorpius had never laughed in his life.

"Do you fancy me, sir?"

If Teddy was not stiff before, he is now, the cold of Scorpius' fingers seeping through his shirt and into his skin, through blood and muscle, right to the bone. Now Teddy shrugs out of Scorpius' grip and turns. He is face-to-face with Scorpius' skeletal stomach, so he pushes up to his feet. Even then, he is three inches shorter, which does not help his twitching nerves.

"That is not an appropriate question for the office, Mr. Malfoy," Teddy barks. He is angry. Of course he is angry! Scorpius is insane to be asking this, to be turning the tables, to be taking his power away with one simple sentence.

Both of Scorpius' brows rise towards his fine, blond hairline. His pink lips purse sternly. "I apologize, sir."

"You are damn right you apologize." Teddy does not know why he is breathing so hard. "Sit down and get back to work."

"Yes, sir."

Scorpius retreats, sits down at his desk, and begins working. Teddy watches him for three minutes and thirty-two seconds before he lowers himself stiffly into his own chair and returns to work.

That day, Teddy leaves early and breaks routine.

********

It is Christmas Eve, 2024, when Teddy knows this cannot go on. Scorpius is wearing a heavy, gray-wool scarf and his pale-cream traveling cloak. He sweeps into the office like a storm, upturning papers with the winds of his chaos and tearing past his desk with the sea growling at his back.

The two of them stand nose-to-nose for just long enough to allow Teddy to catch his breath before Scorpius has him by the shoulders, wrestled to the wall. A pale mouth claims his, and Teddy does not stop it but yields to it instead.

Teddy knows now why Scorpius agreed to work the half-day with him, why he is the only one here at this early hour of day—Scorpius wanted to get him alone.

They have been dancing around the reality of their relationship for months, since June when Scorpius kissed Teddy for the first time, since August when he slapped Teddy's face and Teddy liked it, and since November when Scorpius forced his dick down Teddy's throat and Teddy came like a fifteen-year-old in his trousers. This moment was destined somehow—Teddy knows that he cannot stop it even if he wanted to; the way it feels to release and to let go in front of a subordinate is exhilarating. There is nothing like how he feels when Scorpius tells him what to do and he does it.

"On your knees," Scorpius growls.

"The door is wide open!" Teddy protests. He is serious, though—this is not usually part of the game. Their games include privacy and a respect for Teddy's career.

"You don't want the world to see you like this?" Scorpius asks. "Don't want them to see you how I see you? Fretted and weeping in a pile of your own drool and piss-and-come-stained trousers?"

Scorpius laughs. Teddy is used to the sound now, but it is no less frightening. Teddy is never sure what Scorpius will do when he laughs; it is the rush he loves, though, the strange anxiety and arousal warring within his belly and growling to get free.

"Close the door, Malfoy," Teddy tries, one last time. "As your superior, I demand you—"

"Oh, Mr. Lupin," Scorpius purrs, pulling his dick free of his trousers. "Let's just see who's in charge."


End file.
